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60 PER CENT FARMERS PREFERRED AGRICULTURE AS A PROFESSION
76 PER CENT USED FERTILIZERS DURING KHARIF / 54 DURING RABI
4 PER CENT ALONE INSURED CROPS / 57 WONDERED HOWCOME
KHARIF CROPPED AREA IRRIGATED 42 PER CENT/ RABI 56
59 PER CENT USED DIESEL MACHINES FOR HARVESTING
19 PER CENT ONLY SOUGHT CO-OPERATIVES HELP
TUBEWELLS MAJOR SOURCE OF IRRIGATION
52 PER CENT STILL PLOUGH WITH ANIMALS
48 PER CENT PURCHASED SEEDS
A Report titled “Some Aspects of Farming” based on the Situation Assessment Survey of Farmers carried out by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation was released here today. This is the third report in the series of five, to be brought out based on the survey. The present report covers farming practices, farmers’ awareness of technical and institutional developments in farming, resource availability and use, distribution of farmed area and irrigated area over different kinds of farming activities, and energy used by farmer households in various activities, with special reference to ploughing, threshing, harvesting and irrigation.
The survey was conducted at the instance of the Ministry of Agriculture during January to December 2003 for the agricultural year 2002-03. A sample of 51,770 farmer households spread over 6,638 villages in the country was selected and two visits were made to each household to collect information for kharif and rabi seasons separately. In this survey, any person who possessed some land and was engaged in agricultural activities on any part of that land during the 365 days preceding the date of survey was defined as a farmer and any household which had at least one farmer was accepted as a farmer household.
Agricultural activities included cultivation of field and horticultural crops; growing of trees or plants such as rubber, cashew, coconut, pepper, coffee, tea, etc; and animal husbandry, fishery, bee-keeping, vermiculture, sericulture, etc.
Estimates have been presented in this report for all States separately except Goa and the NCR Territory of Delhi and for all the Union Territories together as a group. Some of the important findings are ;
Almost 60% of farmer households reported they liked farming as a profession. Nearly 27% of farmers did not like farming as it was not profitable, 8% opined that it was risky. About 40% felt that, given a choice, they would take up some other career.
About 29% of farmer households had a member of a cooperative society, 5% had a member of a self-help group and only 2 % had a member of registered farmers’ organisation. Only 19% of farmer households had availed themselves of services from the cooperative sector. Most of these households availed of either credit facilities, or services related to seeds or fertilisers.
Only 4% of farmer households had ever insured their crops and 57% did not know that crops could be insured. About 18% of farmer households knew about bio-fertilisers. Nearly 29% of farmer households understood what minimum support price meant. Only 8% farmer households had heard of the World Trade Organisation.
Almost 47% of farmer households used farm-saved seeds and 48% purchased their seeds. Whereas 30% farmers replaced seed varieties every year, another 32% replaced them in an alternate year.
Fertilisers were used by 76% of farmer households during the kharif and 54% during the rabi season. For 27% of farmer households, fertilisers were available within the village. Organic manure was used by 56% of farmer households during kharif and 38% during rabi. It was available within the village for 68% of farmer households during kharif and 75% during rabi. Improved seeds were used by 46% of farmer households during kharif and 34% during rabi. They were available within the village for 18% farmer households. Pesticides were used by 46% farmer households during kharif and 31% during rabi. Veterinary services were used by 30% farmer households during kharif and 22% during rabi.
Gross irrigated area was 42% of cropped area during kharif and 56% during rabi. Tubewell was the major source of irrigation. About 50% of all irrigated land during the kharif season and 60% during the rabi season was irrigated by tubewells. Wells were used to irrigate 19% of land irrigated during kharif and 16% during rabi. Canals accounted for irrigation of 18% land during kharif and 14% during rabi.
About 47% of farmer households using non-human energy for ploughing their land used diesel tractors while 52% relied on animal power. Nearly 66% of farmer households used diesel pumps and 33% used electric pumps for irrigation.
About 59% of farmer households reporting use of energy for harvesting crops during the last 365 days had used diesel-powered machines and 38% used animal power device. For threshing of harvested crops during the last 365 days, about 12% farmer households used electric-powered threshers, 61% used diesel- powered threshers and 27% used animal power threshers.
The interesting facts thrown up by the Survey would be highly helpful in framing policies and programmes for the Agricultural Sector.
PRESS NOTE/NSSO
VKS/SR
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